Name: Investment potential in disruptive platforms
Uploaded: 2022-03-04T16:44:18.266Z
Duration: 385.84
Description: Jacob E. Grose, Dina Routhier and Claudia Reuter discuss disruptive platforms, their ability to transform businesses and how they can boost the production of personalised goods.

Investment potential in disruptive platforms.vtt

English

{{00:00:08}}
A disruptive platform is
something that radically

{{00:00:22}}
changes the way you do business.

{{00:00:24}}
So it's not just an incremental change
which is, you know, built upon what

{{00:00:29}}
you've been doing for the last 10
years, or in BASF's case, 150 years.

{{00:00:34}}
It's really something that takes
your business in a new direction.

{{00:00:38}}
You know, one example of an
investment that we've done that

{{00:00:42}}
I've been personally involved with,
and I'm very excited about is that

{{00:00:45}}
investment we did in a quantum
computing company here in the

{{00:00:47}}
Boston area called Zapata Computing.

{{00:00:49}}
Quantum computing for those of
you who are not familiar, is a

{{00:00:52}}
disruptive, by definition, new
computing platform, which is different

{{00:00:58}}
than the classical computing that's
been done for the last 50, 70

{{00:01:01}}
years, depending on how you count.

{{00:01:02}}
And it uses the laws of quantum
mechanics to speed up certain

{{00:01:06}}
calculations exponentially.

{{00:01:07}}
And, we're very interested in that
from BSF's standpoint, not just

{{00:01:11}}
for our chemicals and materials
research, but also for our

{{00:01:15}}
business needs, I mean, in terms of
optimisation and machine learning.

{{00:01:19}}
But quantum computing is much broader
than just the chemical industry.

{{00:01:22}}
It's something that affects all
sorts of industries, you know, from

{{00:01:27}}
pharma to finance and many others.

{{00:01:31}}
And, it's something that, you know,
really it's in its infancy today.

{{00:01:34}}
I mean, you should think of quantum
computers, like there's all old IBM

{{00:01:36}}
mainframes that take up, you know,
a huge part of the room and, you

{{00:01:40}}
know, we're really kind of in the
1960s of quantum computing right now.

{{00:01:43}}
But I think in the next 10
years, with all the investments

{{00:01:47}}
that are going on, from Google
type to Amazon, you name it.

{{00:01:51}}
I think, you know, we're going to see a
lot of disruption in the next 10 years.

{{00:01:55}}
I completely agree with Jacob that,
you know, disruptive platforms are

{{00:02:00}}
ones that really have the potential
to disrupt an existing business.

{{00:02:04}}
But also if looked at it in a
different way are tremendous

{{00:02:08}}
opportunities for new areas of
growth for an existing business.

{{00:02:12}}
So for Stanley Black and Decker, one
area that we've been looking at and

{{00:02:15}}
we've invested in heavily to date
is the additive manufacturing space.

{{00:02:19}}
Also know as 3D printing.

{{00:02:22}}
And so when you think of our business,
you know, we typically invest, you

{{00:02:26}}
know, millions of dollars in expensive
tooling to then manufacture millions

{{00:02:33}}
of drills or millions of wrenches.

{{00:02:35}}
But what we find is that there is a
long tail to our products, meaning we

{{00:02:39}}
have many, many products where there's
a demand only in the tens or hundreds

{{00:02:44}}
of thousands of units per year.

{{00:02:47}}
To bring a new product like that to
market, the economics just aren't

{{00:02:50}}
there when you have to invest in
new tooling but with the advent

{{00:02:54}}
of additive manufacturing, you
can then bring to market those

{{00:02:58}}
types of lower unit products, as
well as personalised products.

{{00:03:03}}
So think of sort of a wrench that's
created for, you know, a smaller hand

{{00:03:07}}
or a left hand or with, you know, a
signature on it or something like that.

{{00:03:13}}
Personalisation is what we see
in the future, and be enabled

{{00:03:17}}
by additive manufacturing.

{{00:03:18}}
And so one investment we've made in the
space, we've made several actually, and

{{00:03:22}}
in fact, our partnership with Techstars
for the first few years involved

{{00:03:27}}
additive manufacturing, looking for
early stage companies to go through the

{{00:03:31}}
Techstars program focused on additive.

{{00:03:34}}
But one larger that we've made as a
company in Minnesota called Evolve

{{00:03:38}}
Additive, which is developing a totally
new way of doing polymer 3D printing.

{{00:03:43}}
And we really look for additive
technologies that are manufacturing

{{00:03:48}}
scale, not focused on doing one-offs
or prototypes, but which really could

{{00:03:53}}
be dropped into our manufacturing
facilities and used to make products

{{00:03:56}}
that we sell to our customers.

{{00:03:58}}
So we're really excited about
that particular technology.

{{00:04:01}}
Dina to your point, I think additive
as a vertical area is one where we

{{00:04:07}}
are going to see tonnes of different
innovations emerge that are disruptive.

{{00:04:11}}
One in particular I was excited to
invest in our first year, working

{{00:04:15}}
together as a company called ManiMe.

{{00:04:17}}
This is a perfect example of a
disruptive company, disruptive

{{00:04:21}}
technology platform that
people may not have thought of.

{{00:04:23}}
So what they're doing leveraging
additive technology is, they actually

{{00:04:29}}
have designed a way to go direct
to consumer with new manicure tech.

{{00:04:36}}
So this sounds like something that
maybe wouldn't have fit into how

{{00:04:39}}
we think about additive when we're
talking about emerging technologies

{{00:04:41}}
and different material, science
elements and whatnot, but really what

{{00:04:44}}
they're doing is quite disruptive.

{{00:04:46}}
What they do is they've
developed an app.

{{00:04:48}}
You take a photo of your nail.

{{00:04:51}}
You have your hand, and then
they actually generate a 3D CAD

{{00:04:54}}
model that then you can have a
customised gel manicure delivered

{{00:04:58}}
to your house whenever you want.

{{00:05:00}}
And they've managed to build an
entire marketplace of designers

{{00:05:03}}
who have unique nail art.

{{00:05:05}}
They've gotten a huge following
on sites like Instagram, they

{{00:05:09}}
have over 40,000 followers and
they've just had continuous

{{00:05:12}}
growth over the last few years.

{{00:05:14}}
And it's just an example of an
industry that people thought

{{00:05:17}}
was just sort of locked in.

{{00:05:19}}
And yet you mix the ability to go
direct to consumer, reducing the

{{00:05:23}}
supply chain and add in an innovative
solution related to the additive.

{{00:05:27}}
And suddenly you have
basically the potential to

{{00:05:30}}
disrupt a $9 billion industry.

{{00:05:32}}
Disruptive technology is also, another
aspect of them is that at first

{{00:05:38}}
they might only disrupt, you know,
one industry that maybe looks like

{{00:05:42}}
a niche industry, you know, whether
it's nails for additive manufacturing

{{00:05:47}}
or, you know, some relatively narrow
application for quantum computing,

{{00:05:51}}
that seems very technical and nerdy.

{{00:05:53}}
But, you know, once they get a
hold and people start to see, wow,

{{00:05:58}}
this is starting to make, you know,
hundreds of millions of dollars over

{{00:06:01}}
here, very quickly they get spread
around and become really disruptive.

{{00:06:07}}
So I think, you know, both for
additive and for quantum computing,

{{00:06:10}}
the timescale that you might see
it everywhere might be 10 years,

{{00:06:13}}
but you know, their near term
applications, you know, happen today

{{00:06:16}}
or even in the next, two, three
years that I think are very exciting.

A disruptive platform is
something that radically

So it's not just an incremental change
which is, you know, built upon what

you've been doing for the last 10
years, or in BASF's case, 150 years.

It's really something that takes
your business in a new direction.

You know, one example of an
investment that we've done that

I've been personally involved with,
and I'm very excited about is that

investment we did in a quantum
computing company here in the

Quantum computing for those of
you who are not familiar, is a

disruptive, by definition, new
computing platform, which is different

than the classical computing that's
been done for the last 50, 70

And it uses the laws of quantum
mechanics to speed up certain

And, we're very interested in that
from BSF's standpoint, not just

for our chemicals and materials
research, but also for our

business needs, I mean, in terms of
optimisation and machine learning.

But quantum computing is much broader
than just the chemical industry.

It's something that affects all
sorts of industries, you know, from

And, it's something that, you know,
really it's in its infancy today.

I mean, you should think of quantum
computers, like there's all old IBM

mainframes that take up, you know,
a huge part of the room and, you

know, we're really kind of in the
1960s of quantum computing right now.

But I think in the next 10
years, with all the investments

that are going on, from Google
type to Amazon, you name it.

I think, you know, we're going to see a
lot of disruption in the next 10 years.

I completely agree with Jacob that,
you know, disruptive platforms are

ones that really have the potential
to disrupt an existing business.

But also if looked at it in a
different way are tremendous

opportunities for new areas of
growth for an existing business.

So for Stanley Black and Decker, one
area that we've been looking at and

we've invested in heavily to date
is the additive manufacturing space.

And so when you think of our business,
you know, we typically invest, you

know, millions of dollars in expensive
tooling to then manufacture millions

But what we find is that there is a
long tail to our products, meaning we

have many, many products where there's
a demand only in the tens or hundreds

To bring a new product like that to
market, the economics just aren't

there when you have to invest in
new tooling but with the advent

of additive manufacturing, you
can then bring to market those

types of lower unit products, as
well as personalised products.

So think of sort of a wrench that's
created for, you know, a smaller hand

or a left hand or with, you know, a
signature on it or something like that.

Personalisation is what we see
in the future, and be enabled

And so one investment we've made in the
space, we've made several actually, and

in fact, our partnership with Techstars
for the first few years involved

additive manufacturing, looking for
early stage companies to go through the

But one larger that we've made as a
company in Minnesota called Evolve

Additive, which is developing a totally
new way of doing polymer 3D printing.

And we really look for additive
technologies that are manufacturing

scale, not focused on doing one-offs
or prototypes, but which really could

be dropped into our manufacturing
facilities and used to make products

So we're really excited about
that particular technology.

Dina to your point, I think additive
as a vertical area is one where we

are going to see tonnes of different
innovations emerge that are disruptive.

One in particular I was excited to
invest in our first year, working

This is a perfect example of a
disruptive company, disruptive

technology platform that
people may not have thought of.

So what they're doing leveraging
additive technology is, they actually

have designed a way to go direct
to consumer with new manicure tech.

So this sounds like something that
maybe wouldn't have fit into how

we think about additive when we're
talking about emerging technologies

and different material, science
elements and whatnot, but really what

What they do is they've
developed an app.

You have your hand, and then
they actually generate a 3D CAD

model that then you can have a
customised gel manicure delivered

And they've managed to build an
entire marketplace of designers

They've gotten a huge following
on sites like Instagram, they

have over 40,000 followers and
they've just had continuous

And it's just an example of an
industry that people thought

And yet you mix the ability to go
direct to consumer, reducing the

supply chain and add in an innovative
solution related to the additive.

And suddenly you have
basically the potential to

Disruptive technology is also, another
aspect of them is that at first

they might only disrupt, you know,
one industry that maybe looks like

a niche industry, you know, whether
it's nails for additive manufacturing

or, you know, some relatively narrow
application for quantum computing,

But, you know, once they get a
hold and people start to see, wow,

this is starting to make, you know,
hundreds of millions of dollars over

here, very quickly they get spread
around and become really disruptive.

So I think, you know, both for
additive and for quantum computing,

the timescale that you might see
it everywhere might be 10 years,

but you know, their near term
applications, you know, happen today

or even in the next, two, three
years that I think are very exciting.

Trend

Jacob E. Grose, Dina Routhier and Claudia Reuter discuss disruptive platforms, their ability to transform businesses and how they can boost the production of personalised goods. 

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Jacob E. Grose.jfif

Jacob E. Grose

CEO and Founder 

medium_Dina Routhier.jfif

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Dina Routhier.jfif

Dina Routhier

President

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Claudia Reuter.jfif

Claudia Reuter

Author, 'Yes, You Can Do This! How Women Start Up, Scale Up, and Build the Life They Want" and CEO & Co-founder: Pre-Launch Company 

Grose talks about the investment opportunity of the new disruptive platform, quantum computing.

Investment opportunity: Quantum computing

Routhier sheds light on additive manufacturing as a disruptive platform, and the potential it has to boost business. 